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Old April 8th, 2008, 12:04 PM
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ancientgirl ancientgirl is offline
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Natural Balance

I went to Petco yesterday to get some food for the gang, and found this product I'd not seen before. Natural Balance for cats. I picked up one of the chicken flavors and was pleased at what I read in the ingredients. I got a couple of cans to see if the F4 showed any interest. I put the food on their plates and then before I could mix in their regular stuff, they were already eating the Natural Balance. They really liked it. I did a bit of reading on the site. This was started by actor Dick Van Patten, because he wanted to have a natural good quality food for pets.

Has anyone here given this to their pets? They make both dog and cat foods.

Natural Balance

I've been trying to introduce them to EVO but they don't seem to care for the canned formula. I got a small bag of dry, just because I've been leaving out small amounts of dry for them to snack on (I don't leave out as much as before) and they love the dry formula.
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Last edited by ancientgirl; April 8th, 2008 at 12:09 PM.
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Old April 8th, 2008, 12:31 PM
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I have never fed it but it does have good ingredients. Just in case you were not aware, though, Natural Balance did have some products recalled last year.

http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=39730
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Old April 8th, 2008, 12:45 PM
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Oy! Thanks for that! I wasn't aware.

Even though it was last year, I think I'll just skip them. I only got a few cans, so I can take them back. Just in case. The cans I did get weren't any of the ones they voluntarily recalled, but still...

I'll keep trying with the EVO. The good thing is they really do like the dry, that's a step in the right direction I think. They like it so much sometimes they stop eating their canned and immediately just go to the dry. I'm careful though to leave them LOTS of water in their bowls, which I leave two of for them. The store I get the EVO from also sells Innova and Evangers, so if I see no luck with the EVO canned, I can see if they'll go for the others. I think those three seem to be the best I can find to be sold down here.
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Old April 8th, 2008, 01:20 PM
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I'm not too terribly gung-ho on Natural Balance, although it is better than some foods like those from any grocery store. There are only 3 grain-free varieties (Chicken & Liver, Duck & Green Pea, Venison & Green Pea), but my biggest issue with NB is how cagey they are about providing the "as fed" analyis of their food. They've also been a tad snarky in the past on the issue of using Bisphenol-A in their pop-top cans. I just don't trust 'em, to be honest.


ETA - Also just want to warn you about the very high calories in dry EVO. I know you're only feeding a small amount, but be careful! My cat lost over a pound when all I did was take away the tablespoon of EVO that he was getting per day. It's also freaky-high in phosphorus, which probably isn't an issue for young healthy cats like yours, but I just prefer to try to stay within the daily recommended amount of all nutrients.
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Last edited by sugarcatmom; April 8th, 2008 at 01:27 PM.
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Old April 9th, 2008, 08:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sugarcatmom View Post
I'm not too terribly gung-ho on Natural Balance, although it is better than some foods like those from any grocery store. There are only 3 grain-free varieties (Chicken & Liver, Duck & Green Pea, Venison & Green Pea), but my biggest issue with NB is how cagey they are about providing the "as fed" analyis of their food. They've also been a tad snarky in the past on the issue of using Bisphenol-A in their pop-top cans. I just don't trust 'em, to be honest.


ETA - Also just want to warn you about the very high calories in dry EVO. I know you're only feeding a small amount, but be careful! My cat lost over a pound when all I did was take away the tablespoon of EVO that he was getting per day. It's also freaky-high in phosphorus, which probably isn't an issue for young healthy cats like yours, but I just prefer to try to stay within the daily recommended amount of all nutrients.
Thanks sugarcatmom, I noticed that in the evening they tend to turn their noses to the canned and just go to the dry EVO. This morning they at least all finished the canned I put on their plates, which impressed me because even Oksana finished hers and she usually is the one who takes a few bites and walks away. After they did that then had a few bites of the dry.

If I can get them all to finish the canned I give them, then I can put out less of the dry, which is what I'm hoping will happen.

I guess I just have to get it out of my head that they'll starve or something. I watch too many shows where people just don't give their pets enough food, and in my anxious mind, I don't want to do that to my babies. But I also don't want to feed them so much that they'll get fat.

I still haven't been able to get my hands on a scale, so I've got to keep watching Vlad's weight, but I think he's staying pretty steady.

I'm going to stay away from the Natural Balance. I watched that Rachel Ray show again about feeding pets, and it does say that Evangers wasn't involved in the food recall. I've just got to do a bit more looking around and reading about Evangers, EVO and Innova. I think if I can get my gang on any one of those it will be very good for them. Czarina is already on the Innova, she loves it.
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